The measured cadence that is his "This American Life" voice is recognizable, to be sure. But his pace is faster. Or maybe it's just a bad phone connection from New York. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article(2)

In the Light of What We Know. By Zia Haider Rahman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 512 pages. $28.

On its simplest level, Zia Haider Rahman's"In the Light of What We Know" is a classic bildungsroman describing a man who is born into poverty in rural Bangladesh, moves to England as a boy, wins a scholarship to Oxford, adds a law degree from Harvard, enjoys succeeding careers as a derivatives trader on Wall Street and a crusading lawyer in Asia, falls hard for an aristocratic Brit and falls apart when things don't work out. All before the age of 40.

But there's nothing simple about this dense, sprawling and thrillingly ambitious debut novel, which relentlessly calls into question how much we should trust paragraphs like the one I've just written — or, more generally, the stories within which we live and through which we lull ourselves to sleep. So let me try again. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article

Danceworks' year of collaborations is coming to an end, but that doesn't mean the end to collaborations for the modern dance company.

Dani Kuepper, Danceworks' artistic director, took time out from preparations for the company's upcoming "Plugged In" program to look back at a busy year and ahead to coming seasons. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article

Riddle me this. What's ubiquitous in a workplace? Moves unnoticed among employees? Is energetic, enthusiastic and sometimes exploited? Interns. And after you read Shane Kuhn's twisty (and twisted) comedic thriller "The Intern's Handbook" (Simon & Schuster, $25), you may want to get your own coffee at the office.

John Lago is an assassin, working for HR Inc., a company of killer interns. Their targets are high-profile professionals who deserve their pink slips. Written from Lago's cynical point of view to future HR employees, the racing plot records his final assignment (25 is "mandatory retirement") punctuated with lessons from his other "34 kills." | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article

Boswell Book Company could not have picked a more fitting new book for its fifth anniversary celebration.

Gabrielle Zevin's novel "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" is a tale of love between an indie-bookstore owner and a publisher's rep, a bit of a bildungsroman about an orphaned girl who grows up in a bookstore, and a big wet kiss to readers and bookstore people. It features the questions that drive booksellers crazy (It was in the Times....It has a red cover.), rants about Amazon and e-readers, a stolen rare book, a lively book group (whose members are nearly all licensed to carry) and an author event that ends in mopping and scrubbing. Zevin's novel also mentions the children's book "Caps for Sale," practically guaranteed to start a Proustian reverie of mental images for those of us who loved that book as child or parent. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article

"8:45?," Schoolboy Q asked backstage at the Rave Thursday, exasperated and annoyed by his set's start time. "Nobody's going to be out there."

Schoolboy Q must have known it was a school night (wah wah), but we've got to agree with the fast-rising rapper behind the terrific "Oxymoron," one of the year's most acclaimed albums--hip-hop or otherwise--that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts its first week in February. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article

On Fridays I'm posting my thoughts on Lou Reed's solo albums, one album at a time in chronological order of release.

Just when a listener might have been tempted to think that Lou Reed, after two albums permeated with death and dying, had turned all grown-up grumpy on us, he plugs in, turns up the guitar and, as the opening track on "Set the Twilight Reeling" (1996), dishes up "Egg Cream": | April 18, 2014»Read Full Blog Post(2)

The 84-year-old director Clint Eastwood, when busy not interviewing empty chairs or making a Super Bowl commecial, continues to crank out crafstmanlike films like "J. Edgar" and star in them too, like "Trouble With the Curve."

His latest, "Jersey Boys," is based on the 2006 Tony Award winning musical about the early travails of the 1960s doo-wop-style harmony singing group the Four Seasons. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Blog Post(1)

I'm only half-joking. A few days ago, the fast-rising rapper's sold-out show at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Ore., had to be evacuated after a support beam holding up the floor was damaged. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article(2)

Even before the menu clues you in, the dining room at Tochi lets you know this is no Anaba Tea Room, the former incarnation of this space under the Garden Room shop in Shorewood.

A Godzilla mural — lasers shooting from the monster's eyes beside images of cowering civilians and determined authorities — has replaced the display of fine art on the walls, just as the Japanese noodle soup ramen has replaced tea sandwiches at lunch and pan-Asian small plates at dinner. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Article(1)

Metal guitar whiz Zakk Wylde--in Milwaukee last month for the Experience Hendrix tour--is back April 25 with his own band Black Label Society. Photo provided by publicist. | April 18, 2014»Read Full Blog Post